


We Are Loud Like Love

by Tea__Bee



Series: Holiday AUs [4]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Good Parents Maggie & Wentworth Tozier, M/M, Pride, The whole Loser's club is lgbt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 08:01:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24966379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tea__Bee/pseuds/Tea__Bee
Summary: Richie's been on tour for months and Eddie and the Losers decide to surprise him at his last show.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: Holiday AUs [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1572694
Comments: 12
Kudos: 64





	1. Chapter 1

Moving Richie into his apartment had been completely crazy and oddly the least stressful move Eddie had ever been a part of. They had called on all of their friends to help and the day of the move had turned into almost a whole day long party. Early the morning of, Mike had brought his truck to Richie's old apartment and Eddie, along with Stan and Bill, had helped load Richie's belongings into the back before heading over to Eddie's. Ben and Bev had met them there with coffee and breakfast burritos and they all got to work. 

Richie's vintage movie posters and pictures with his parents and friends were hung alongside pictures of Eddie with his dad that Aunt Peggy had sent recently in the living room and pictures of them with the rest of the group. His clothes were hung in the closet or put in the slightly larger dresser they'd bought together, since neither of their old ones were made for two people's wardrobes, and the few kitchen things he had joined Eddie's in the cabinets. 

Merging their lives into one apartment only took until the early afternoon, and the whole gang celebrated with pizza and drinks and the Back to the Future trilogy. 

They'd had a few stumbling points, but had settled in with each other's routines and habits pretty quickly. 

And then Richie had had to leave to go on tour. 

Eddie hadn't expected to have such trouble sleeping the first week Richie was gone, or to miss Richie's wet towel on the bathroom floor, one of the things that annoyed him most about cohabitation with his boyfriend(it had happened less and less recently anyway, Richie had been working on it for him, but suddenly not having the little reminder of him, no matter how annoying it was, made him surprisingly sad). They talked on the phone every day in the late morning when Eddie was on break at work, since Richie stayed up late doing his show and Eddie still had to go to bed on time for work, and they Skyped on weekends, having dinner together on Saturday nights no matter what city Richie was in that day. They'd had a call with Aunt Peggy and Sasha for Sasha's birthday mid-April, and even had a group call at the end of May, Richie on one end and the rest of their friends piled onto the couch with Eddie in their apartment, chaotic and loud and ending with everyone nearly in tears laughing. 

After that call, the group had stayed at the apartment for dinner, surrounding Eddie with noise and love and warmth at exactly the right moment without him having to say anything to any of them. They just knew he needed them. 

"Only another couple of weeks, right Eddie?" Mike prodded, stirring the sauce for the pasta dish he and Stan were making. 

"Ten days, yeah." Eddie grumbled, cutting up chunks of zucchini and squash for Ben to grill. Bev sipped her wine and chuckled and he shot her a look, "Don't laugh, I miss him, it's fucking annoying that the apartment feels fucking huge and empty without him even though he'd only been living here for a few weeks before he went on tour."

"No, hon, I'm not laughing at you, it's just cute. It's really nice that you're counting the days. I'm not making fun, I promise." Bev reached across the table and squeezed his shoulder. "What's his last stop?"

"Fort Lauderdale on the seventh." He slid the last of the yellow and green veggies into the bowl and stood to carry it to Ben, who was leaning against the doorway of the balcony keeping an eye on the grill. He crossed to the fridge for another beer before sitting back at the table.

"Hey, didn't he say his show w-w-was the opening for P-Pride weekend?" Bill asked from where he sat on the corner of the counter, watching Stan and Mike cook more than actually helping. 

"Yeah, he's really excited they invited him. It's kind of a big deal." Eddie laughed at the unspoken joke Richie would have made had he been there, and he caught Stan looking at him with a raised eyebrow and a smirk, clearly having had the same thought. "Why?"

"We should surprise him! G-get tickets for his show, take him for dinner after, end his tour with a b-bang." Bill suggested, sipping his beer.

"Wait, that's actually a really good idea!" Bev said excitedly. 

"Well, I'd have to get a couple of extra days off work, I already took the week after off for when he gets home." Eddie still got a little bit of a thrill every time he called it their home instead of his own apartment. 

"Big plans for that week?" Stan asked, deadpan, making Eddie turn bright red and glare at him before he turned back to the boiling water to pour the pasta in while everyone but Eddie lauged. 

"I know Ben and I can get the weekend off, Stan you don't work weekends anyway, but do you think you can get Friday off?" Bev started taking notes on her phone while Eddie looked up flights, barely listening to the rest of the group responding to her questions. "Bill, you could probably get people to cover articles for you at the paper, yeah? Mike, how about you?"

The rest of the night passed by in a blur of planning, with good food and good friends, and ended up being the best night Eddie'd had since Richie had left.


	2. Chapter 2

Eddie and the gang managed to sneak into the theater and get to their block of seats without any fuss, although they probably hadn't needed to make such a big deal out of sneaking, since Richie was backstage. It had probably just made the ushers suspicious, but it was fun to pretend nonetheless. Eddie sat close to the end of the row, the only two people between him and the aisle an older couple who seemed sort of out of place, but looked just as excited as everyone else. The rest of the group extended toward the middle of the row, chattering amongst themselves and eating their snuck in snacks like it was just another movie night.

The lights dimmed and Richie went through the beginning of the show, most of which Eddie had heard while he'd been writing it, but it still had him laughing with a hand over his mouth, lest Richie hear and recognize his laugh in the crowd somehow. Then came the bit toward the end of the show where Richie started talking about their relationship, and Eddie couldn't help the giddiness that crept over him again at getting to surprise him after the show.

Richie stood in the middle of the stage now, having stopped pacing back and forth in the middle of telling the crowd about moving in with Eddie. "It feels like we've known each other for ages, rather than the measly six months it's actually been since I placed an admittedly sketchy ad on craigslist looking for a free Christmas dinner in exchange for a fake date and met him, which is a whole other story, but I guess every cheesy couple says that." He put on a Valley Girl voice, "'Oh, it feels like I've known Chris my whole life. I can't imagine life without him.' Shut the fuck up, Carly, you've been together for a month. But no, it's exactly like that, and now I'm the annoying lovestruck bastard." He laughed along with the crowd, but Eddie saw the softness in his eyes as he continued, "I wish I had known him since we were kids, though, wouldn't that be a great story? 'Yeah kids, I've been in love with your dad since we were barely human, still figuring out how to talk without our voices squeaking and how to sneak out without our parents knowing.'"

Eddie hadn't known Richie had thought about them having kids, and maybe it was just for the story, but it had something stirring in Eddie's heart all the same.

"Although I'll be honest I think my mom always knew but she trusted my friend Mike not to let me go jumping off bridges or anything and figured he'd get me home safe. Jokes on her, though, because Micycle was always the first to jump off a cliff and into the lake below, me screaming and laughing as I jumped down after." Eddie looked over at Mike, who sat next to him, in shock, then laughed as Richie called him out without even knowing he was there. "My boyfriend would have lectured me so hard if he'd been there when we were kids. 'Richie, you don't know what's under the water, there could be a rock and you could shatter every bone in your body!' And he'd be right! The first time we jumped, I think the only test we did was tossing some pebbles into the water below. They looked like they sank far enough that we wouldn't hit anything but like, have you seen how thick my glasses are? Depth perception isn't exactly my forte, my friends. I do wish we'd known each other when we were younger though. Maybe we'd have been high school sweethearts, add a whole other level to the cheese factor. Although I would have definitely been way too chickenshit to have said a damn thing. I've seen pictures, he wore these little red shorts?" He bent at the waist, pretending to breathe heavily, "Hooo I would have been horny and terrified. Just… I'm super lucky to have him now though, so I'll take what I can get." He took a sip of his water and gestured with the bottle, "This is my last show of my tour, and I am… so excited to go home. We were having dinner over Skype last weekend, because we do that, sappy assholes we are, and he told me he's taken off the whole week after I get back." He gave an exaggerated shudder as the crowd laughed. "So you know, if I'm a ghost on social media for a week… Look, I'm historically very present so I don't want anyone to worry, okay? I'm just having the goddamn time of my life and will not be leaving the bedroom for seven straight days, alright? I'll see you in a week, Twitter. Someone else can occupy the trolls for a shift, I'm gonna be bus-ay." He paused again to set the water down at the edge of the stage and sat down on the stool, playing with the chord of the microphone. "My parents are literally in the audience right now and I know my dad is shaking his head and my mom is cackling."

Eddie froze. Richie's parents were here? He looked at his friends, but they seemed completely unaware of Eddie having a mild freak out in his seat.

But Richie just continued, "God, they're gonna give me such shit for this afterward, but who cares."

Eddie stopped himself from looking around, as if he'd be able to spot two people he'd never seen before in his life, as the woman beside him turned to him and whispered, "That's us! That's my son up there, we've never seen his show, isn't it cute he mentioned us?"

Eddie just stuttered, wide eyed, at her, but she didn't seem to notice his nerves, turning back to Richie on stage before Eddie could formulate a coherent response.

Richie chuckled, "Actually, they're the best. When I came out to them, hold on. Let me set the stage here." He stood again, hunching slightly and exaggerating his pose, jutting his arms out at an odd angle and standing duck-footed. "I was seventeen. It was the mid nineties. I still had braces and I'd grown about a foot overnight, so I was all elbows and knees, okay?" He stood up straight again and continued, "They were not worried about me dating. We were all painfully aware that I hadn't had my first kiss, let alone done anything else, and that I was highly unlikely to, both due to my physical awkwardness and my loud mouth that had never had a filter. But they still tried to pull the classic parental 'keep the door open when you have a girl over' thing, you know? Which didn't even come up until junior year anyway, when Bev moved to town and decided Mikey and I were the only two people at school she could stand." Bev was laughing and nodding in her seat. "She was way too cool to be hanging out with us, or at least with me, but she picked us anyway. So the first time she came over, my dad piped up from his chair at the dining table without looking up from the paper, 'door open if you guys are going to be in your room, son.' And like, Bev was and remains entirely out of my league, but especially when I was seventeen, so thanks for the vote of confidence dad, but wholly unnecessary." The man Eddie now knew was his boyfriend's father laughed, and it was like hearing Richie laugh, but slightly deeper and a bit of raspiness with age. "Now, a few months later, Beverly, Mike and gangly old me had somehow snagged an invite to a party. A big one, probably the biggest of the semester, and most likely that was only because the guy who was throwing the party owed Mike for tutoring him, or that he was into Bev. Possibly both, but he definitely didn't ask for me to be there. But there I was, garishly bright Hawaiian print shirt and all. And at some point, when I was around two and a half illicit watered down beers in, someone had the bright idea to play seven-minutes in heaven. Remember how I mentioned I hadn't had my first kiss yet? Yeahhh." Richie laughed at himself. "So I was both absolutely in for this whole concept of getting stuck in a confined space with someone with the promise of kissing, and absolutely terrified of it. But of course I sat in the circle full of people who either didn't know I existed or didn't particularly like me, and waited my turn to spin. Except it never got to my turn, because the first girl to spin, the illustrious Kay McCall, landed on me. So she rolls her eyes and groans as her friends laugh and usher us both into guest bedroom. The door shuts and we can still hear her friends giggling and making kissy noises behind the door and she looks at me and gives me one of these," He cocked out his hip and placed a hand on it, then did a near-perfect imitation of a teenage girl derisively looking him up and down, "And she says 'I don't want to kiss you, you know.' And I'm like, well shit of course not you look like you don't even want to be on the same planet as me, let alone in this room right now, for fuck's sake. But I'm trying to be cool and not anxiety-vomit on the guest linens, so I just shrug, like, 'Cool, whatever.' But I knew, and she knew, that I was turning greener by the second. And she has this moment where she realizes I've literally never been kissed before in my life, like a lightbulb explodes over her head, and she looks at me with such pity, and honestly, Kay was a nice girl, she'd never explicitly bullied me, like most of the other kids at my school, partly because she was in a class with Bev and they liked each other enough to not pull each other's hair out, and partly because she just wasn't as insecure as all the other kids at my high school. Just like, one percent less insecure, but it worked in my favor. So she looks at me, trying not to dry heave and sweating at the thought of my first kiss being completely meaningless even though I'd literally sat down and signed on for this stupid game, sits next to me and pats my shoulder and then just hangs out in silence listening to the party on the other side of the door until our time was up. Very cool, that Kay McCall. Didn't make fun of me, didn't call me any shitty names, just hung out until she could go out and play the game some more, and hopefully get partnered with someone who wouldn't look at her in terror next round. Didn't even tell her friends nothing had happened, just let them tease her about kissing me and got another drink and sat back down, no sweat. I however, immediately bolt and drag poor Mikey away from a conversation with some girl from his library class and out into the yard, where I proceed to pace and very valiantly not throw up my two and a half cups of watery beer and manically explain that though I have always boasted of my sexual prowess and the loads and loads of ladies I've had in my boudoir, have never actually kissed anyone ever. And the bastard just nods like 'yeah Rich we know.' And I finally calm down enough to sit down and explain that this particular panic attack was brought on, not by almost getting my first kiss, which I feel like would have also been justified, but by my first kiss almost being with someone who didn't mean anything to me. Revealing the soft underbelly of my heart and showing that Trashmouth actually does care, despite the shit I talked on the daily. And Mike just looks at me, all-knowing and completely understanding as always, and says 'So you don't want the pressure of a first kiss, but you also want it to be with someone you care about, which prolongs the whole ordeal and adds more pressure in the first place.' And-" The crowd started laughing and Ooooo-ing and Eddie laughed, because they'd all just caught on, but he already knew this story. "Yeah, you all know where this is headed, but I didn't! So I just nod like, yeah that would sum up my dilemma, good sir, and he just nods wisely and says 'okay' and kisses me! Just a small kiss, nothing earth shattering, just a little peck, but I'm dumbfounded, and then he says, 'there, now you've had you first kiss, and it was with a friend you care about, and now the pressure is off.' And it was the simplest thing. And then Bev came out, wondering where we'd been, and when we told her, she made a joke about missing out, and smacked one on me, again just a little smooch, but very nice, and then we all laughed and the night continued. And the next day, after breakfast, I told my parents that I was bisexual. Because when you know you know, and I've never managed to actually keep my mouth shut about anything and I figured why not tell them immediately after I figured it out myself. And they were both perfectly reasonable about it, while also still doubting I would date anyone anytime soon, given the everything about me, and told me the were proud of me, and all that gushy crap, and I went to go out the door for school, feeling pretty good about the whole situation, when my dad says, 'bye, son' like he does every time I leave the house, except this time, before I can say bye back, he starts laughing. And he says, through his laughter, 'get it? You're my bi son!' And I will never be funnier than my dad thought he was in that moment. Never. But other than chuckling quietly to himself every time I left the house and he said his little goodbye, nothing changed."

Eddie chanced a look over at Richie's parents, trying not to be creepy, and saw them looking misty-eyed and proud up at the stage.

Richie shrugged, "Except of course, next time I had Mike over, my dad said we had to keep the door open. Goodnight, Fort Lauderdale! It's been a blast, but I've got a hot boyfriend to get home to!" The whole audience stood, clapping and cheering, as he walked off stage, waving.

Eddie steeled himself to turn back to Richie's parents and introduce himself, maybe apologize for being so weird and wired, but when he looked at their seats, they were already gone. "Hey, Mike? Did you notice that the people sitting next to me were Richie's fucking parents?"

Mike turned to him, genuinely surprised, "Went and Maggie were in our row? I was so distracted pretending to be sneaky with the rest of you, I must have missed them completely, I had no idea."

"His mom literally turned to me and said she was his mom when he mentioned they were here, and I just fucking stared at her like an idiot!" Eddie panicked.

"Let's go out to the lobby, maybe you can introduce yourself there?" Mike gestured to the rest of the group to follow and they all filtered up the aisle with the rest of the crowd.

When they finally reached the lobby, the Toziers were nowhere to be seen. Bev looked around and finally spotted Richie's manager, Steve, who she'd texted to inform about the surprise and had promised to bring the group backstage to reunite with Richie in private instead of in the lobby. They made their way back, and finally spotted Richie hugging his parents in the green room, not noticing the six other people who had entered until Stan cleared his throat.

The three Toziers looked over at the group in the doorway, Eddie at the forefront, and recognition dawned over Maggie's face as shock washed over Richie's. Only Went looked slightly lost, until he spotted Mike and Bev, who both went to hug him and his wife as Richie stepped forward.

"Eddie? Wh-what are you doing in Florida?" Richie laughed incredulously, moving past his parents to cup Eddie's face, like he was trying to convince himself he wasn't imagining him.

Eddie smiled, "Surprise." He lifted up onto his tip toes to wrap his arms around Richie's broad shoulders and kissed him softly, melting into him after months of being apart.

Someone, maybe Stan again, maybe Went, cleared their throat and Richie and Eddie broke apart, blushing and remembering there were other people in the room.

"Oh, uh… Eddie, I guess it's meet the Toziers time?" Richie looked at him nervously.

"I mean, we ended up sitting next to each other at your show, so I've briefly met your mother, sort of." Eddie peaked around Richie's side sheepishly at Went and Maggie. "Hi, I'm Eddie, I'm sorry I didn't say anything at the show, I just got caught off guard."

"Nonsense, Richie was in the middle of a show, there was no time for introductions. I'm Maggie, this is my husband Wentworth." Finally getting a good look at them, he saw that Richie really took after his mother. She was tall, almost as tall as Richie, with a riot of curly brown hair piled onto of her head, peppered with grays, and glasses perched on her nose. Wentworth was more average in height, only an inch or so taller than Eddie himself, but broad, and his eyes were a mirror of his son's, with a few more wrinkles and laugh lines.

"Call me Went, son. None of this full name nonsense." Went stepped forward and Eddie extended a hand to shake, but was pulled into a tight hug instead.

Laughing, he turned to Maggie, who hugged him as well. "It's really nice to meet you both, I- I'm so lucky to have Richie in my life, so, uh, thank you." Maggie started to respond, but Stan fake-wretched and Bill couldn't hold back his laughter. Eddie turned and flipped them off(Ben, blushing, getting caught in the crossfire) and then turned back to Richie and his parents, who were laughing as well. "Sorry," he laughed.


	3. Chapter 3

After being introduced to the rest of the group, the Toziers had offered to take everyone out for dinner to celebrate the end of Richie's tour. Everyone talked over each other at the restaurant, sharing food that was served family-style and laughing while everyone caught up. Aside from a few looks from other patrons at a particularly loud story or joke, everyone else at the restaurant seemed in as good a mood as them, so no one really minded, especially the waiter that Richie snuck an extra large tip to on top of what his parents had left with the bill. Over dessert at the end, Went mentioned that he and Maggie had planned to surprise Richie and take him to pride the next day, and the rest of the group admitted to having planned the same, and so they merged groups again the next day. 

Richie had checked out of his own hotel room in favor of spending the night with Eddie, and when they came downstairs for breakfast in the hotel's restaurant, Bev and Ben were already sitting at a large table in the corner, dressed and ready to go. Bev wore a pair of deep rose pink overall shorts she had painted the bi pride flag on the front pocket of, over a cream lace crop top, her signature Doc Marten mary janes on her feet. Ben wore his pan flag striped tank top and jeans, with a collection of pins(the demi flag, his pronouns, a smiley face, and a pin from Richie's tour) secured just above his heart. Mike had beat Eddie and Richie downstairs as well, wearing a simple white ringneck shirt with "Book Nerd" written in a retro style, the colors of the rainbow trailing behind the text and a pair of marigold yellow shorts that ended a few inches above his knees with rainbow stripes at the bottom hem.

Eddie spotted them and headed over with Richie in tow. 

Richie was wearing a shirt based off one of his bits during his show, the silhouette of a bison on the background of the pink, purple, and blue flag, "BI-SON" printed in bold letters underneath, along with an insanely colorful button up featuring tons of different LGBTQ+ flags all together, and an absurd pair of fluorescent pink shorts Eddie planned to burn when they got home. Eddie had found a vintage denim jacket at a thrift store with Bev and they'd cut the sleeves off, fraying the edges around his shoulders and at the bottom, and had splashed an abstract rainbow across the back panel. Much to Richie's delight, Eddie had chosen not to wear an undershirt, just a healthy layer of sunscreen under the denim that was soft with wear. He'd finished the look with a pair of ripped black jeans and comfortable sneakers. They'd just ordered their breakfasts when Stan and Bill came down and everyone started laughing.

Stan looked very put together in a navy blazer with rainbow stripes painted down the sleeves from the shoulder like epaulettes over a crisp white button up and a pair of nice jeans that had clearly been ironed. Bill, on the other hand, looked positively chaotic, wearing a cropped hoodie, colorblocked with black, gray, white, and purple stripes, that read "Queer AF" in rainbow glitter across the front, cutoff jean shorts, a rainbow flag as a cape, bright green aviator sunglasses and flip flops. 

"Stan, while I'm feeling just a  _ tiny _ bit betrayed you didn't get it from me, that blazer is such a Look I'll forgive you." Bev reached out to touch the shoulder of the blazer as Stan sat next to her, smiling at her praise of his fashion sense.

"Bill, what the hell are you wearing, you look feral," Richie asked.

"Coming from Richie, that's saying something." Mike laughed, digging into his pancakes as Stan flagged down the waiter to order his and Bill's food. 

"Hey, I ordered this hoodie c-custom, I love it." Bill pouted.

"And I love you, but you do look a little insane." Stan smirked and kissed Bill on the cheek.

…

After breakfast, they piled into two Ubers and met Maggie and Went at the entrance to pride, an intersection that had been blocked off and led to several streets filled with booths and people. 

Maggie waved at them, towering above most of the crowd. She wore glitter on her cheeks and arms and a "Free Mom Hugs" shirt covered in rainbows. Went stood next to her, smiling wide as Richie ran up to him to laugh about his shirt, which said "I love my Bi-Son" and had a bison inked with the colors of the bi flag on it. 

Eddie pulled his phone and took a picture of the two of them grinning at the camera and pointing at each other's shirts. 

Upon entering, Bev immediately dragged them all over to a booth where they could paint each other's faces. 

Eddie let Richie paint his face, after making him promise not to draw anything phallic, and ended up with several slightly crooked rainbow hearts on his cheeks and forehead. Everyone else loved the idea so much that they all ended up painting each other's faces with different colored hearts, along with a few rainbows among the nine of them. Bev even painted her own lips with the pan flag and smacked a kiss on Ben's cheek to transfer it over, making him smile and blush bright red. 

Eddie snapped a picture, Ben's round cheeks red with happiness, his eyes crinkling as Bev pressed her painted lips to his cheekbone. He also had the booth runner take a picture of all of them together once they were done.

Later in the day, after lunch at the food carts, Maggie got pulled into a whole line of people giving free parental hugs, hugging people of all ages and orientations, some of whom were shy and quick, others who lingered, savoring the moment. Maggie murmured encouraging words to each of them before they walked away, and Eddie could feel himself tearing up. 

He passed his phone to Richie, who took a picture of Eddie with his arms wrapped around Maggie's waist, with her pressing a kiss to Eddie's hair, both of them a little misty-eyed. 

If Eddie didn't tell what Maggie had whispered in his ear right before the picture, that was his business.

Not long before they left, they ran into a group of fans of Richie's, who asked him to take selfies. They excitedly recognized Eddie and even asked to get a picture with both of them, and snuck in hugs with Maggie and Went, saying how wonderful they were for being so accepting when Richie came out. One of them hadn't had such luck, and Eddie sympathized with them, mentioning his own rotten parental luck. Eventually, they parted ways, and the group headed toward the entrance again. They said goodbye to Richie's parents, who hugged each of them and made them promise to visit again soon before getting into their cab, and then everyone headed back to their hotel, exhausted but happy and ready to go home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this, I'm sorry I've been completely missing in action, being creative has been difficult. I hope you're safe and happy and healthy and hanging in there. 
> 
> I will not be writing anything for the fourth. This is intentional. 
> 
> See you soon,  
> Bee


End file.
